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DRUMBEAT GROWS FOR ISIL VOTE – The Daily Beast’s Josh Rogin: “Leading lawmakers in charge of foreign policy reacted Tuesday to the reported beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff by increasing their calls for more congressional involvement and oversight of President Obama’s war on [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] … ‘The beheading of poor Mr. Sotloff really just brings back that we are dealing with a dangerous adversary…Congress needs to play a vital role and we are determined that the House Foreign Affairs Committee will lead the way,’ said Rep. Eliot Engel, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. ‘We believe that before the president can continue beyond 60 days of doing airstrikes in Iraq or anyplace else, he would have to come to Congress and get Congress’s authority to continue.’”

--Added the committee’s chairman, Ed Royce of California, in the story: “‘We are scheduling a hearing upon our return and requesting the secretary of state to present a plan, a strategy focused on rolling back ISIS, defeating ISIS through the use of airstrikes and the support of those with common interests … We anticipate there will be a vote on authorization of the use of force for such a plan. That would come within the 60-day window.’” http://goo.gl/9ztviy

--Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on the Hugh Hewitt show that he believes Obama has legal authority to launch airstrikes in Iraq, but “I think it’s questionable whether he has the authority to do this in Syria.”

--Over on the Senate side, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he plans to file legislation that would give President Barack Obama clear authority to bomb ISIL extremists in Syria, saying: “We must go after [the group] right away because the U.S. is the only one that can put together a coalition to stop this group that’s intent on barbaric cruelty.” http://goo.gl/odATb4

--President Barack Obama, earlier today in Tallinn, Estonia, said U.S. officials have verified that the video released Tuesday of the purported execution of Sotloff was authentic, and pledged to build a coalition that he said would “degrade and destroy” the extremist group. The AP: http://goo.gl/zh9E4r

BOEHNER: GOV’T FUNDING ‘TIL DECEMBER – In that Hugh Hewitt show interview, Boehner (who, interestingly, was being interviewed by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif.) didn’t directly address the recent chatters about a potential government shutdown, but he did say he expects Congress to pass a continuing resolution that runs until early December.

--On the immigration front, Boehner notes that “there’s a possibility that Congress could take this issue up next year.” But the speaker says leading up to that, Obama has to “follow the law and begin to take steps that would better secure our border.” Count us a wee bit skeptical on the chances of immigration reform in 2015.

THE REMAKING OF ERIC CANTOR, WALL STREET EDITION – POLITICO’s power trio of Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Ben White: “The Virginia Republican rose to prominence in Washington cutting deals between warring political factions, raising millions of dollars for Republicans and running the raucous House floor. Now he’ll try to find out what — if anything — that means on Wall Street.”

--“There is no guarantee he is worth the millions Wall Street bank Moelis & Co. is shelling out for him — even the people close to him concede he has a steep learning curve. And it’s not clear whether he’ll be able to achieve the triumphant return to the political fray he so clearly desires, sources in New York and Washington say … Cantor’s tight-knit orbit says he is excited to ‘learn a new business,’ as one put it, and leverage the international finance relationships that he fostered while in Congress to help make his company — and others — money.”

--Moelis is also scooping up Kristi Way, Cantor’s longtime chief of staff based in Richmond: http://goo.gl/R8qvsw

--The New York Times’s Jonathan Weisman notes that Cantor’s shift to Wall Street symbolizes the business community’s loss of influence at the House Republican leadership table, with oil and gas interests gaining a more powerful voice with Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise as majority whip: http://goo.gl/mSXufr

2014 STATE OF PLAY: THE SENATE – POLITICO’s James Hohmann: “Some $400 million has already been spent in the battle for the Senate. Yet the record-shattering early money has hardly budged the half-dozen races that will decide the fate of the upper chamber, and two months out from Election Day, top officials from both parties say the election truly could go either way. POLITICO interviewed two dozen party operatives and campaign aides about their outlook for November. Most said the GOP has a slight edge because the playing field tilts conservative. But the overwhelming sentiment was uncertainty about what will happen.”

--“‘ There are probably five states where there’s a statistical tie right now,’ said Rob Portman, vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. ‘Many of them are right on the knife’s edge.’ http://goo.gl/e7EpDq

PSA -- @StewSays: FYI, the Senate Gift Shop will be closed for inventory on Thursday, September 4 and Friday, September 5.

GRIMM SET FOR DEC. 1 TRIAL – Lawyers for Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) had argued for an even later trial in January, arguing that the barrage of negative political ads funded by Democrats during the election season would taint the jury. Grimm is facing 20 counts of tax evasion, fraud and other assorted charges. Newsday: http://goo.gl/krdxF7

TRANSITIONS – Moira Bagley Smith, former spokeswoman for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), is headed for the House majority whip’s office as communications director for Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) Bagley Smith worked at the Kentucky GOP and the Republican National Committee, as well as Roll Call and The Daily Caller. http://goo.gl/IEoeB0 Roll Call rounded up a few snippets of her work there -- particularly her reviews of watering holes around the Hill: http://goo.gl/aBPCnl

Jamal Ware is returning to the Hill as communications director for the Benghazi select committee. In his previous stints on the Hill, he worked for the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, as well as former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.).

BREAKING OVERNIGHT: UKRAINE-RUSSIA CEASE-FIRE ON, THEN OFF – The New York Times: “The office of President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine said Wednesday that he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a similar understanding about what was needed to achieve a cease-fire in southeastern Ukraine, but it retracted a statement it had made earlier in the day that said the two men had agreed to a ‘lasting cease-fire.’ The initial statement, posted on the presidential website, went too far in describing the results of a telephone call between the two leaders as having reached a cease-fire, said a spokesman … The presidents exchanged opinions about a cease-fire, but there was no formal agreement, said the spokesman, who, in line with protocol, did not give his name.” http://goo.gl/bmUrYc

--Meanwhile, the Russian bank Gazprombank – slapped with sanctions by the U.S. – has brought on former Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) on John Breaux (D-La.). Center for Public Integrity: http://goo.gl/x8dwHV

AROUND THE HILL – Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) will be on a press call hosted by the pro-reform advocacy group America’s Voice at noon to talk about potential immigration administrative action. Call 866-952-1907; the passcode is EXEC ACTION.

CORNY JOKES AT NEBRASKA BREAKFAST -- The Wall Street Journal’s Reid J. Epstein has this fun dispatch: “Every Wednesday morning when the House and Senate are both in session, Nebraska's five representatives in Washington get together and tell jokes to the folks from back home. But this is Congress after all, so there's a limit on how funny jokes can be. And they're talking to Nebraskans, so it is best to stick to safe topics. The easy targets: Rep. Lee Terry's sculpted hair and fellow Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's dull weekly budget presentations.”

--“The setting for the corny jokes from the Corn Belt is the Nebraska Breakfast, an open-to-the-public gathering of the state's congressional delegation that has been taking place at the Capitol since 1943.” Keep reading to find out about the time Terry “once made a graphic case against erectile dysfunction ads on TV only to spot a well-known Omaha priest in the audience.” http://goo.gl/XrJZpB

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS AMY KLOBUCHAR? Everywhere, it seems – at least on the 2014 midterm campaign trail. BuzzFeed’s Kate Nocera has the details: “She’s toured a popcorn store with Bruce Braley in Iowa, co-chaired an economic roundtable with Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, and spoke at the Sanford Hunt Frye in North Carolina on behalf of Sen. Kay Hagan. All told, Klobuchar has traveled to more than 10 states this cycle … One Democratic operative compared Klobuchar’s 2014 to what Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has done in recent cycles.” http://goo.gl/czuL21

AS FOR YOUR OTHER MINNESOTA SENATOR … Sen. Al Franken breaks his own rule to avoid non-Minnesota media to chat with the Los Angeles Times’s Mike Memoli: “Apparently dull is good politics for Al Franken. It's not that Franken is no longer funny — he is, though it's mostly out of public view. But one of the more noteworthy aspects of the former comic's first Senate term has been his effort to avoid the spotlight and to play against type. ‘I'm in a different job,’ he said in an interview. ‘My old job was being funny, basically. And that's not my new job.’

--“Those close to Franken, and Franken himself, often seem exhausted by the continued discussion of his past job as it relates to his current one. That's one reason he's tended to refuse media interviews to non-Minnesota outlets. At the start of a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, he asked skeptically, ‘The headline won't have 'No Joke' in it?’” http://goo.gl/CqGoXP

NUMBER OF THE DAY: 103 – That’s the total number of subpoenas issued by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee since 2011. His aides say that pace is similar to the 46 Democratic-issued subpoenas in two years under the Bush administration: http://goo.gl/xEqm3H

NEXT ROUND IN SANFORD DIVORCE FIGHT – WCSC, the Charleston, S.C.-area CBS affiliate, reports: “Jenny Sanford is demanding her ex-husband, Congressman Mark Sanford, undergo psychiatric evaluations and complete both an anger management program and a parenting program as part of their ongoing divorce proceedings … In the complaint, Jenny Sanford also says there has been a substantial change of circumstances that a visitation schedule should be put in place that limits Mark Sanford's visitation with their youngest son, who is now 16 … A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 15.” http://goo.gl/tgK6rh

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Shelby Boxenbaum, legislative counsel for Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), was the first to correctly answer that Florida was the state that sent both the first Latino man (Joseph Marion Hernández in 1822) and Latina (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 1989) to Congress. Honorable mention goes to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

TODAY'S TRIVIA – Boxenbaum has today’s question: Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who just announced that she is expecting a baby girl this December, will join a small group of congressional women who have given birth while in office. Who was the first member of the House to give birth while in Congress? The first person to correctly answer the entire question gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at skim@politico.com.

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